"It is with tremendous sadness that I officially hand over the Senate seat that I have held for eleven years,” said Ensign. "The turbulence of these last few years is greatly surpassed by the incredible privilege that I feel to have been entrusted to serve the people of Nevada. I can honestly say that being a United States Senator has been the honor of my life."

The senator, who has served since January 2001, was a rising star in the party when he admitted to an extramarital affair in 2009. His parents reportedly wrote a $96,000 check to his former mistress and her family, leading to an investigation by the Federal Election Commission, which was later dismissed. It was later revealed that Ensign may have violated Senate ethics rules by arranging for his former mistress's husband to take a job as a lobbyist with a Nevada consulting firm in an attempt to hush the matter up.

Adds the Los Angeles Times: "The decision now to resign with more than 20 months left in his term would spare him prosecution by the Senate Ethics Committee, which in February named a special counsel to investigate potential violations of ethics rules and federal law."

18 December 2010

After this morning's historic vote to end debate on the stand-alone "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repeal bill, the Senate just voted 65-31 to pass the measure. The vote needed a simple majority. The bill should be on President Obama's desk for his signature next week.

19 November 2010

There has been significant movement on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in the past two days. On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said he was "committed" to scheduling a floor vote during the lame duck session on the 2011 National Defense Authorization Act, which contains the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" repeal language. And last night, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) announced there were 60 votes to move forward with the NDAA and repeal, reports Chris Johnson at the Washington Blade.

“I am confident that we have more than 60 votes prepared to take up the defense authorization bill with the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ if only there will be a guarantee of a fair and open amendment process,” Lieberman said during a news conference. “In other words, whether we’ll take enough time to do it.”

The legislation would likely come up after Dec. 1, when a Pentagon working group is due to deliver a report to Defense Secretary Robert Gates on implementing repeal. Lieberman said he’s received assurances from GOP senators Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) as well as “others privately” that they would be open to moving forward with defense legislation containing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal provided there’s an “open amendment process” in bringing the bill to the floor.

A previous attempt in September at bringing the defense authorization bill to the floor failed when a united GOP caucus — led by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) — successfully filibustered the motion to proceed. Many senators, including Collins and Lugar, who supported a repeal amendment in committee, said they were voting “no” because of limited amendments that senators would be allowed to submit for the legislation.

Several other Senate Republicans are also amenable to repeal. Social conservative John Ensign of Nevada said he supports repeal "and is prepared to vote for cloture on the Defense bill after the Pentagon's study is released," reports the Blade. Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski, who this week became the first Senate candidate in more than 50 years to win a write-in campaign, has changed her previous position and now says she would "not vote against a bill that had that repeal in it."

But what exactly would be a "more open amendment process", asks AMERICABlog's Joe Sudbay. "The Senate Republican leaders have already made their decision—they will filibuster the Defense bill over DADT. Will Collins, Lugar and the other allegedly pro-repeal GOPers cave, like they usually do, but offer some lame-ass procedural excuse?"

22 October 2009

An historic day. By a vote of 68 - 29, the Senate has just passed the conference report on the 2010 Department of Defense Authorization. This was the final step in the legislative process for this bill which contains the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr Hate Crimes Prevention Act. This extends hate crimes protections to people targeted on the basis of gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability.

After languishing on Capitol Hill for nearly 12 years, the bill now goes to President Barack Obama’s desk for signature. The hate crimes bill will become the hate crimes law and the first pro-LGBT legislation to become federal law in the history of our nation.

The husband of Ensign's former mistress—Doug Hampton, a former aide to the senator—allegedly made "exorbitant demands for cash and other financial benefits" through an attorney. Ensign also helped Hampton "get two jobs" during the nine-month period the Republican senator acknowledges carrying on the affair. Ensign gave his mistress, Cindy Hampton, two pay raises during this time. In addition the National Republican Senate Committee, which Ensign chaired, "made twice-monthly payments, generally $500
apiece to Brandon Hampton," Hampton’s son.